Geoff Jonhs Talks Sinestro in Green Lantern!

DC's Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns was recently on the set of Green Lantern. He posted what he thought of sinestro on his blog:

I just returned from New Orleans, where Green Lantern is deep in production set for release in June 2011. Green Lantern has an unreal crew and cast. Grant Major – the Production Designer on Lord of the Rings. Martin Campbell – the director of Casino Royale. And Mark Strong from Sherlock Holmes and Kick-Ass as Sinestro. And while I was there, there was a test on Sinestro. How he looks. How he moves. An amazing test.

Unfortunately, that test is top secret.

I can say with confidence, however, if you like Sinestro you’re going to love Mark Strong as Sinestro. Powerful, regal, intimidating. Mark clearly has done his research and embraced every aspect of what makes Sinestro one of the greatest, most complex characters within the vast, epic universe of the Green Lantern Corps. I think you’ll be as psyched as I am when you finally see him.

I expected right from the start after hearing Strong had been cast that he'd be great in the role. It seems like no one can play a villain quite like him. He really is the Villains Villain. Lets just hope something is revealed come comic con next month, and that it makes its way online. Fingers crossed.

Teaser Trailer for "The Smurfs"

I loved The Smurfs cartoon when I was a kid.  I had all the little Smurf figures, etc.  It was a great little show, and one of my fonder memories of the early 80s.

This, unfortunately, does not look anything like The Smurfs that I loved back then.  It looks sort of like Alvin & the Chipmunks-meets-Enchanted...minus the enchantment.

OK, it's just a teaser.  It could get better.  But still, yikes.  Not liking the whole Smurfs-take-Manhattan angle at all. 

The Smurfs arrives in theaters on August 3, 2011.

Box Office Predictions June 18-20

 

Opening this week in 3D is the sequel to the popular toy story franchise. With out a doubt expect toy story to put up some huge numbers this weekend. It should have no problem beating Shrek 4's opening record this year, and kicking the crap out of this weekends competition.

Also opening this weekend is the wild wild west looking destined to flop Jonah Hex. I'm not expecting Hex to do much this weekend, likely coming in third behind last weeks Karate kid, and barely beating out the A team.

Next week look for Knight and Day to open early on Wednesday, and probably come in second to Toy Story in its second weekend.

1. Toy Story 3 (Disney/Pixar) - $110 million

2. The Karate Kid (Sony) - $30 million

3. Jonah Hex (Warner Bros.) - $15.5 million

4. The A-Team (20th Century Fox) - $13.5 million

5. Shrek Forever After (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) – $8.2 million

6. Get Him to the Greek (Universal) - $5.9 million

7. Killers (LIonsgate) - $4.1 million

8. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Disney) - $3.0 million

9. Marmaduke (20th Century Fox) - $2.9 million

10. Sex and the City 2 (New Line/WB) - $2.6 million

Be sure to check back to TMT on Sunday for the estimates from Jen, and again on Monday for the actual numbers.

"Crank" Directors taking on Ghost Rider?

Heat Vision is reporting that Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are in early negotiations to direct Columbia’s “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” the sequel to the studio’s 2007 supernatural action movie starring the Marvel Comics character.

Also in early negotiations is Nicolas Cage to reprise his role as Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider. The plot is being kept very secretive right now, but what is known is the story comes from David Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight). Goyer is also exec producing the project.

The studio has plans to start filming this January. They're under a strict time limit right now where the rights to the franchise could be reverted to Marvel if they don't get production underway right away.

Neveldine and Taylor are writers as well as directors, but no word yet on whether they'll be doing re-writes as well. They're best known for directing the two Jason Statham action flicks Crank and it's sequel. They also served as writers for WB's upcoming cheesefest Jonah Hex.

If you didn't like the first Ghost Rider then you'll probably hate this. With the team behind Crank and Jonah Hex directing/ possibly re-writing, and David Goyer having written the screenplay, it's sure to be a super fun flick!

Robert Rodriguez Offered To Direct 'Deadpool'

It seems like the spin off to the very "meh" Wolverine Origins known as Deadpool has not been forgotten after all. Right around the time that Fox had hired writers and set plans in place to move forward with a Deadpool film starring Ryan Reynolds, Warner Bros snatched him up for the lead in their Green Lantern feature due out next year.

Well even with Reynolds already headlining one superhero franchise at WB, Fox still has plans to move forward with Deadpool. They've apparently made an offer to Director Robert Rodriguez. Nothing concrete has been set in place yet, but an offer is out. Fox must be happy with what they've seen from the predators remake being produced by Rodriguez, because this isn't the first big project they've offered him. He was also offered to direct the Planet of the Apes prequel, but he turned it down.

I think He'd be a great choice to direct, but at this point I don't see Reynolds coming back to the project anytime soon. And I know everyone wondered why WB/DC especially would be willing to let one of their superhero leads also star in the competitions film simultaneously. Well my guess is that was never their plan. They seem to be very confident with the Green Lantern, so much so they've already hired writers to pen the sequel.

Does this mean that Reynolds will be too busy on Green Lantern 2 to start production? Probably, which means Deadpool will likely fall into development hell eventually, or they'll be forced to find a new lead.

Will Peter Jackson Direct 'The Hoibbit'?

According to Deadline's "sources" Warner bros and MGM are intent on having Peter Jackson return to the directors chair for the franchise he started with the nearly 3 billion grossing Lord of The Rings franchise.

In other obvious news Warner would also like Chris Nolan to direct Batman 3, but of course that seems much more likely. Anyways, back to The Hobbit, it's already a well known fact that Jackson is just too damn busy to take over as director of two more movies right now. He's directing Tin Tin 2 next year, the sequel to the motion capture adaption he's producing with Spielberg. As well as a million other projects in development. Not to mention I seem to remember them saying just recently he couldn't come back if he wanted to, due to contractual obligations.

They're saying that other directors are interested in the job as well. Of course they are, but that means nothing at this point. The Hobbit is currently in, and will remain in development hell.

I've already pointed out the facts in The Hobbit's ultimate demise in my weekly series The Anderson Chronicles. But for those of you still holding on to that bit of hope that something will come together for this franchise, I'd let go now. There'll be no movement on this project any time in the near future. At best you could expect an entirely different take some point down the road from a different creative team.

I know some of you are saying, well what about Sir Ian McKellen's comments via twitter just last week. For those of you who don't know, He said:

"Hobbit' sets are ready, script ready and movie is casting this month. Fans are not to worry. The films will get made. I suspect we'll start shooting at end of this year."

I take those comments about as serious as I take Tom Arnold when he says to expect True Lies 2.

First Image from "Real Steel"

It just started filming this week, but USA Today already has the first promotional photo from Dreamworks Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Night at the Museum's Shawn Levy. 

The film takes place in the year 2020, when human boxing has been outlawed and fighters have been replaced by robots.  Jackman plays a former boxer-turned-promoter who, bonds with his estranged 11-year-old son (Dakota Goyo) while rescuing a junkyard robot called Atom who just may be the next great robot-boxing champion.

While motion-capture animation for the robots will be used for the fight scenes, 19 animatronic robots have been built for the film.  Levy says the mix of CG and live-action robots was encouraged by executive producer Steven Spielberg.  "There are some things only visual effects can pull off," Levy told USA Today. "But when you give an actor a real thing, in this case a real 8-foot-tall machine, to interact with and do dialogue opposite, you get a more grounded reality to the performance."

Jackman was impressed by his robot co-stars.  "The moment of walking in and seeing these robots, my jaw was on the floor," he said.  "That's because the robot in this image is a real device, not a digital visual effect."

Wow, so a robot movie not relying on CG to tell a story?  Has someone mentioned this to Michael Bay yet?  The movie sounds a bit like Rocky meets The Champ (hopefully with a happier ending), and I'm always up for anything starring Hugh Jackman.  Sounds promising so far. 

Real Steel is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 18, 2011.  However, that is now also the same weekend part one of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn begins its reign of terror in multiplexes, so maybe it will need to find a better weekend?  Stay tuned.

Harry Potter Finishes Filming

And all was well.

The nearly ten-year journey of the Harry Potter film franchise reached an end this weekend, as principal photography on the final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, officially finished on Saturday. 

It's not known whether the final scene filmed was from Part 1 or Part 2 of the finale, but the final day was marked by actor Warwick Davis, who played both Professor Flitwick and the goblin Griphook in the series, who reported via Twitter:

"The end of an Era - today is officially the last day of principal photography on 'Harry Potter' - ever. I feel honoured to be here as the director shouts cut for the very last time. Farewell Harry & Hogwarts, it's been magic!"

Daniel Radcliffe, who presented at last night's Tony Awards ceremony in New York (he's set to star in a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying next year) told the Associated Press that it was an emotional last day, "Everyone was really devastated.  It was really, really sad," he said.  "We were crying quite a lot.

According to Harry Potter fansite MuggleNet.com, Rupert Grint lightened up the mood a bit by bringing his ice cream truck to the set on the last day and serving ice cream to the cast and crew. 

There's still lots to look forward to for us Harry Potter fans - not the least of which of course are these two films which still have lots of post-production work left before we finally get to see them this November and July 2011. 

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is ready to open at Universal Studios Orlando on Friday June 18th.  The park has been having soft openings for the past week or so and early reviews are terrific.  Scheduled to appear for the grand opening so far include Radcliffe, Grint, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, James and Oliver Phelps, who will reportedly arrive via the Knight Bus.

A little closer to home is the upcoming release of the Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 video game, which will arrive in stores June 29th.  Very excited for this game, since I love the Lego games.

So while it's sad to hear the series is nearly finished, there's still plenty to enjoy before it gets here.

Box Office Actuals June 11-13

Karate kid and A team were both slightly over estimated, but the former still kicked some serious ass regardless. Like Jen pointed out Karate Kid will likely perform well through the summer. It's definitely sad that A Team opened so poorly, it really is a fun flick.

Next week look for Toy story 3 to take the number one spot, and put up some huge numbers. While Jonah Hex is also opening I'm not expecting much, maybe third if they're lucky...

1. The Karate Kid (Sony) - $55.6 million

2. The A-Team (20th Century Fox) - $25.6 million

3. Shrek Forever After (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) - $15.7 million

4. Get Him to the Greek (Universal) - $9.9 million

5. Killers (LIonsgate) - $8 million

6. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Disney) - $6.4 million

7. Marmaduke (20th Century Fox) - $6 million

8. Sex and the City 2 (New Line/WB) - $5.4 million

9. Iron Man 2 (Marvel/Paramount) - $4.5 million

10. Splice (Warner Bros.) - $2.9 million

Be sure to check back to TMT on Wednesday for this coming weekends predictions, and again on Sunday for the estimates from Jen.

Weekend Box Office: June 11-13

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Karate Kid - $56 million

2.  The A-Team - $26 million

3.  Shrek Forever After - $15.8 million

4.  Get Him to the Greek - $10.1 million

5.  Killers - $8.1 million

6.  Prince of Persia:  The Sands of Time - $6.6 million

7.  Marmaduke - $6 million

8.  Sex and the City 2 - $5.5 million

9.  Iron Man 2 - $4.5 million

10.  Splice - $2.8 million 

The 80s returned with a vengeance this weekend, and The Karate Kid remake came out on top with an amazing $56 million, well above expectations and more than twice the opening weekend box office of The A-Team, which had to settle for second place with $26 million. 

Budgeted at around $40 million and starring Will Smith's 11-year-old son, Jaden, The Karate Kid has provided the box office punch that Hollywood has sorely needed since Iron Man 2's big opening last month.   Exit polls were strong, even with the film's 2 hour and 20 minute run time, so it should hold up well for a good part of the summer, even next weekend when Toy Story 3 opens.

The A-Team finished the weekend with a solid, but below-expecations total of $26 million.  With a budget of about $110 million, it's going to have to hope the movie's B+ Cinemascore rating generates enough good word-of-mouth to earn that back.  And for the record, I thought it was awesome, so go see it.

Shrek Forever After fell to third place, earning another $15 million.  It's doing well, but it's still far behind its predecessors at this point in its release. 

Get Him to the Greek and Killers held on decently in their second weekend, both dropping less than 50%.  Prince of Persia remains nowhere near crossing the $100 million marking, falling to 6th place with $6.5 million and bringing its total to $72.3 million.  However, it's done far better overseas, where it has grossed $190 million.

Marmaduke continues to make money for some reason, coming in at 7th place with another $6 million to bring its total to $22 million.  This latest entry into the talking-animals genre does not appear to be catching on with audiences.

Sex and the City 2 fell to 8th place, grossing $5.5 million for a total of $84 million.  At this point it's unlikely to catch up to the first film's $152 million total.

Inching even closer to the $300 million mark (which it will most likely do by the end of the week), Iron Man 2 came in ninth place with $4.5 million.  Its worldwide total now stands at $589 million.  While it's no longer in the top 10, Robin Hood is also less than $1 million away from the $100 mark. 

The horror film Splice rounded out the top 10, dropping more than 60% with just $2.8 million.  Despite good reviews, the film just doesn't seem to be attracting audiences. 

Things should get interesting next week when Toy Story 3 opens.  Check back this week when Mitch updates with the actuals for the weekend.